iOS Control Systems

Swift and Sprite Kit Control Systems Video Tutorials

A video tutorial series that will teach and inspire you to control anything with Swift!

Sprite Kit is a 2d game engine for creating apps for iOS / Mac OS devices. Sprite Kit comes included with Xcode and since it is developed by Apple, developers can be assured that future versions of the iOS / Mac OS support their past projects. Sprite Kit is available for both Swift and Objective C based apps, and is very similar between the two.

This course teaches Xcode development using Swift 1.2, Apple’s latest programming language. Swift can be used to create both iOS Apps to sell through the App Store, or Mac OS apps to sell through the Mac App Store.

This course is taught by Justin Dike, owner and lead developer at CartoonSmart.com, creator of the Fantastic Worlds iOS Starter Kits, and author of iOS Game Programming with Xcode and Cocos2d (published by Focal Press). Justin has been programming iOS games since the release of the first iPhone and has been teaching development for just as long, covering mostly game related topics. He’s proficient with Cocos2d, Sprite Kit, Objective-C and most recently Swift.

Jump into production

This seven hour tutorial series has one main aim to it: give you a quick start guide to programming one of the hardest elements of any game, controlling your characters. Most programmers begin a new app by prototyping the controls. It’s just a natural starting point for production, and it can be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for new developers. With a dozen example projects and 24 videos, you can start wherever you like and implement any of the control systems below…

Accelerometer controls

Simple touches, taps and swipes

Rotation, pan, pinch, and long press gestures

Path-based movements

Aim and release slingshot style controls

Directional pad controls

Virtual joystick controls in a top-down flying game

Virtual joystick controls in an isometric-viewed world

Virtual joystick controls in a traditional side scroller/ platform world

Attacking, jumping and double-jumping with virtual buttons

This series was developed with Swift 1.2 and uses Apple’s very own Sprite Kit game engine. While you master the control methods above, you’ll also learn the basics of game development: animating texture atlases, creating classes for players and collision objects, working with physics, creating world nodes, and countless other nuggets of know-how for making an awesome game with Xcode.

Watch a Preview of Each Finished Project…

Over 7 Hours of Swift and Sprite Kit Tutorials, broken into bite-size chunks

Session 1 – Touch Movements

We will start off softly and work with simple movements based on where the user touches the screen. In the first video we will check to see if the touch was a greater distance from the character sprite on the x or y axis and move to the further point. Then we will work with SKActions to move first on one axis, then another, to walk around in a kind of RPG style.

Simple Touch Movements

Using SKActions to Move

More SKActions to Move

Session 2 – Path Movements

In these tutorials we will discuss how to make a sprite follow a path. This could be useful for tower defense style games or classic-style arcade games like Space Invaders. And believe it or not, Sprite Kit actually has an SKAction specifically for following a path!

Making Characters Move on a Path

Create Centipede Style Movements

Session 3 – Accelerometer Controls

These tutorials will focus on using the Accelerometer with Swift and Sprite Kit to control a character or do things like balance / roll a marble.

Accelerometer Basics

Accelerometer Controls on the X and Y

Session 4 – Gesture Recognizers

These tutorials will look at how to use gesture recognizers with Swift and Sprite Kit. We will start off though by looking at how to animate textures (image sequences) using a .atlas folder in Xcode. Tap gestures will trigger the animation. We will then create a project where a ship spins around using the rotation gesture, and aims toward a target that is also rotated in line with it.

Texture Atlas Animations

Taps and Rotation Gestures

Rotating and Moving a Ship with Target Attached

Adding Swipe Gestures and Turning the Ship with Degrees

Pan Gestures and Converting a Point From View

Pinch and Long Press Gestures

Session 5 – Joystick Controls

In these tutorials we will create a virtual joystick that moves a spaceship and then extend the functionality to a side-scroller style level. This will involve creating a physics based Sprite Kit world, with classes for the Player and Object. We will fine tune the level of player control with each video.

Initial Setup

Top Down Movements with a Virtual Joystick

Creating a Player Class with Physics

Creating an Object Class with Physics

Detecting Contact Between Objects and the Player

Moving and Attacking with a Joystick and Button

Jumping and Double Jumping

Session 6 – Aim and Release Controls

In this tutorial we will modify one of the previous joystick projects to sling a character forward from a set position in an aim and release fashion. We will also look at how to add the character and platforms into a “worldNode” which will get moved as the character is slung so it doesn’t go out of view.

Aim and Release Slingshot Controls

Session 7 – Isometric Controls with a Joystick or Directional Buttons

In these two tutorials we will modify our joystick controls to work with an isometric level and then convert that project to use a virtual directional pad instead.

Isometric Movements

Create a Directional Pad to Move the Character (instead of Joystick)

Two affordable purchasing options…

Purchase Option 1 - Lifetime Access

Get Lifetime Access to this course for a one-time purchase price. You can download (or stream) the movie files and download any source projects.

Purchase Option 2 - Subscription Access

Both Monthly and Yearly Subscribers can stream every video tutorial on the site. Yearly subscribers get access to the latest version of every starter kit whenever they want, plus access to hundreds of dollars worth of royalty free game art (yes, it’s an amazing deal). You can cancel your Monthly or Yearly subscription anytime directly through Paypal.